SunlitCo, ironic, huh? Only sun we see working in those maze-like aisles is the hanging fluorescent lights. They buzzed all shift long, like an invisible fly zooming all around you. Just like all the other imperfections, you learn to ignore it. Ignoring shit is the only way you don’t go crazy in there.
And boy have I seen coworkers go crazy. That’s a story for another day.
Today I’m going to share with y’all a recent encounter I had which left me… shook, to say the least. This will be one of many stories told in an episodic manner. Every night at SunlitCo was an episodic experience. As you’ll soon come to learn, some nights were odd experiences…
***
I chugged the last of my black coffee while waiting in my car. Today, I was gonna need all the coffee my stomach could handle. Two co-workers called in sick, leaving me, Zerra, Neal, and Gale with the entire store. It’ll be a miracle if we finished stocking by sunrise.
I looked at my blue glowing radio display. It read, 10:48pm.
Though my car was idle, the engine sputtered. It’s as if it was begging me to kill it. I did. The sputtering echoed in the empty parking lot. It sounded like a mimicking laugh.
With a sigh, I pushed open the screeching car door and shut it behind me. I triple checked all the doors, making sure no crackheads would be able to have a joyride tonight. One of my ex co-workers made the fatal mistake of forgetting to lock his car. After our shift ended, he returned to a stripped interior.
The parking lot was empty besides a few of the afternoon shift people heading to their cars. I didn’t know half of them. Nor did I care. There’s an unspoken beef between overnight workers and day workers. They leave shit for us to clean or, like tonight, they leave early.
In between each row of parking, there were concrete planters. In my row, there were trees that swayed with the chilling breeze. Blue moonlight shined through the leaves overhead, casting dancing shadows on the asphalt.
As I walked towards the building, the trees cleared. Mounted on the grocery store building, there was a yellow neon sign. SunlitCo, it read. The letter L flickered ever so slightly.
Ah shit, here we go again, I thought to myself as I walked, feeling like CJ from San Andreas.
Cold air blasted overhead as the automatic doors to the building opened. Even though I was wearing our yellow company windbreaker, chills shot up my spine. No one escapes the wrath of the entrance-door fan.
Entering the grocery store leads you into the cart room. That’s where all my co-workers hang out before work.
I looked left, and sure enough, Gale and Neal were playing with the motorized carts as if they were bumper cars. From here I saw the stains on Gale’s XL-sized company polo. Neal pushed up his Jeffery Dahmer looking glasses and rammed into Gale’s cart. Gale tumbled off his seat and landed on the floor like jello.
I moved around as if I had just felt an earthquake. “Careful Gale, you almost wiped out the whole town.” I chuckled.
“Ah fuck you too, Rafa,” Gale said, placing a hand on his knee to get up.
“You got my text?” said Neal.
“They both called out, huh?”
They followed me past the second automatic door and into the store’s lobby. The fluorescent lights buzzed high overhead.
“Yup,” said Neal, “Gale said he’s willing to start on B-side while we speed run A-side.”
I looked back at Gale. He straightened up and nodded. Side by side, the two looked like Chum Chum and Fanboy. I laughed.
“What’s so funny about that?” said Gale. “I can handle it.”
We entered the backroom and walked down the dim hallway into the employee room. There was a barely functioning fridge to the left and party decorated tables with seats to the right. In front of us, there were janky employee lockers lining the wall.
“Nothing,” I said, “It’s just you two really look like Chum Chum and Fanboy.”
They sighed simultaneously. Gale said, “That was funny the first time you said it. Repeating it thirty times a day will not make it any more funny.”
I grinned. “Alright, alright. My bad.”
I opened locker 21.
“Harry Livio?” Neal said.
“Who the fuck is that?” I said, taking off my windbreaker and shoving it in the tiny locker.
“Someone from day shifts. Apparently, it was his birthday.”
Gale glanced around at the decor. “They would never do this for us. Who the fuck is Harry? Employee of the fucking month?”
“Nah, he’s just a day worker,” I said.
“But we’re the backbone of the store. At least some recognition would be nice.”
“You already have your own TV show, along with Fanboy. Isn’t that enough?” I chuckled.
He shook his head and walked out into the hallway after Neal. I followed.
We clocked in, punching in our employee numbers on the wall mounted tablet. The screen of that tablet was nastier than a toddler’s iPad. I punched in my employee number with my knuckle to avoid touching it.
Gale walked left, heading to the B-side aisles. B-side had the freezers and household products. A-side had non-perishables and other food. B-side had 4 aisles. A-side had 6 aisles.
I walked to A-side with Neal.
“Fuck, Zerra is late again.” I said, looking at the checkout stand where she was supposed to be.
“I can cover the cash register until she gets here, if you’d like,” said Gale.
“Give it a minute. It doesn’t look like there are any customers anyway.”
We stood by register two, looking towards the entrance.
“Try using the intercom. Maybe she’s in the store already.”
Neal nodded and walked into the register booth. He put the phone to his ear and punched in the numbers that connected you to the intercom.
The sound of static reverberated throughout the store. Neal’s distorted voice said, “Zerra to register 2. Zerra to register 2, thank you.” He placed the phone down and the intercom beeped.
“Thank you?”
“It’s a habit,” Neal scratched the back of his head.
Doors squeaked behind us. Only one door in the entire store made that sound…
The bathroom.
We turned back. Zerra walked out of the bathroom. Her shoulders were slouched, eyes darting back and forth. She had hollow cheekbones and a slender body. Sometimes you can see the white of her bones or veins bulging out. It’s as if her skin was transparent. Part of me felt bad for her and all she had to put up with. I assumed being an ex meth-head is tough.
“Zerra,” I called out. “Come on, you’re already five minutes late.”
Zerra nodded, walking towards us in slow motion. She moved like a sloth underwater.
As Gale and I were walking away, we heard the squeaking door again. I looked at Gale with an eyebrow shot up and we turned back.
Two skinny men walked out of the bathroom, dapping each other up as if they had just accomplished something. They both wore wife beaters. The one to the left had a Monster energy hat. The other wore shorts that might as well have been pants.
“What the heck,” Neal murmured to me.
“Zerra yo,” Monster energy guy said, “Here’s your change, beatch!”
He threw some coins at Zerra. They hit the back of her head and bounced off the floor with a clang. Zerra squirmed, continuing to walk forward.
“Seriously guys? Get out of the store, now.” I demanded.
They put their hands up and trembled as if mocking me. “Oh, I’m sorry boss,” said the man with shorts. “Please don’t fire us.”
“Hilarious,” I said. “Get out before I call the police.”
They forced a laugh. Monster energy guy said, “We got a male Karen over here, yo!”
“Neal, get ready to dial the police,” I murmured, still looking forward.
“Got it.”
I walked towards them, waving my hands to shoo them away. “Go on, get out.”
Zerra trudged to me and whispered in my ear. “I don’t need your fucking help,” her voice was raspy. “I’m not one of those damsel-in-distress bitches from the movies, okay?”
I whispered back, “They still need to get out of here. They’re causing a disturbance in the store.”
“They’ll cause an even bigger one if you tell them what to do.”
I looked back at them. Monster energy guy was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Pants guy was looking up, admiring the fluorescent lights as if he was high.
“I won’t ask again. Get out.” I put on a serious face. I wasn’t the buffest guy, but if it came down to it, I’m confident I can kick both of their asses. If they had weapons, on the other hand, I wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Or what?” said the Monster energy guy.
“I’ll call the police.”
“If I recall,” he stopped leaning and stood up straight, “there would need to be a valid reason to kick us out. We’re just customers, yo.”
“Customers who threw coins at my co-worker. That’s assault right there.”
He walked forward. “You wanna see assault?”
“Call them,” I murmured to Neal. He punched in three numbers.
Monster energy guy stood right in front of me. His breath was hot and smelled of cigarettes. I held my breath and walked back. “Back up! He’s calling the police.”
“No, I’m gonna show you what assault really is, yo.”
I raised my fists up to my cheeks and lowered my center of gravity.
Monster guy marched forward.
He pulled out a pocket knife, swinging it gently like a hypnotic watch. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He grinned. Teeth yellower than my polo stared at me. I gagged.
He pointed the knife at me. I stumbled back.
Fuck, fuck, I thought to myself, I’m gonna die.
My heart raced faster than Usain Bolt.
With trembling hands, I fumbled to pull out my phone. I held it up, pretending to record a video. “I-I’m recording this,” I said, my voice quivering. “You-You’re threatening us with a knife, and I have it all on video. You really want to go to jail over this?”
He swung the pocket knife to his thigh. It tore through his baggy jeans. There was a fleshy squelch as the blade ripped through his skin. Thick blood oozed out, trickling on the floor.
He yanked the knife out. The blade made a wet, slurping noise.
I felt the intense urge to throw up. But I stayed frozen. My phone trembled in my outreached hand.
“Now that’s assault, yo!” He let out a childish giggle. His friend still admired the lights in the background.
I turned to Neal. The whites of his eyes took up the entire upper half of his face. His lips quivered. He was on the same boat as me. The faint voice on the phone he held questioned if he was still there. He couldn’t reply.
“G-Get the fuck out,” I stammered. “The police are on their way!”
“You just don’t listen, do ya?” Zerra’s raspy voice said from behind. I turned back to see her hiding behind register 3.
“Did you tell me to get out, yo? After I just gave you the performance of a lifetime. I mean, tell me I don’t deserve an Oscar for not even flinching?” He grinned.
I looked down, a pool of blood stained my white sneakers. He marched forward, splashing in the blood as if it were a puddle of water.
Fuck it, I thought, It’s us or him.
I put my phone back in my pocket.
I lowered my body and lunged at him. As I speared him, I felt a sharp pain in my side. I groaned as we landed on the sticky, warm ground. I got on top of him and pinned his arms down. Since I couldn’t punch him, I head-butted him. His head bounced off the ground, eyes rolling back momentarily.
He squirmed around, kicking and screaming. I head-butted him again. But he turned his head at the last second. My head slammed into the ground, eyes watering up.
He pushed me off of him and I rolled in the thick, wet liquid. Through my watery eyes, I saw his figure jump on top of me. He threw a flurry of punches. I felt blunt impacts all over my body, causing me to groan.
Blunt? I thought, Where was the knife?
With one arm, I tried blocking the punches. With the other, I felt around for the knife like Velma looking for her glasses.
I felt a cold, sharp metal object and grabbed the handle of it. As the monster energy guy continued to rain down punches, I mustered every ounce of strength and swung the knife toward him. The blade connected with his arm. He let out a howl, releasing his grip on me.
I scrambled to my feet, clothes blood-soaked. The monster energy guy clutched his bleeding arm. Neal, who had been frozen in fear, finally snapped into action. He lunged at the monster energy guy and tackled him to the ground.
Pinned beneath Neal’s weight, the monster energy guy struggled to break free. I marched to him with the knife in my hand. I didn’t care at that point. With adrenaline surging through me, I was ready to kill him.
A blunt object slammed into the side of my head. I saw stars for a second and fell to the ground.
The fucking pants guy! He held a trash bin in his hand. Did he just hit me with that?
The pants guy darted at me.
He took a wrong step and lost traction in the slippery pool of blood. He fell to the ground, slamming head first with a thump. His body went limp.
Holy shit.
My vision was tunneled. I quickly turned to Neal.
He was on the ground now. The monster energy guy threw a right cross at him, shattering his Jeffery Dahmer glasses. Neal let out a yelp.
I darted towards them, ready to spear the monster energy guy.
I too lost traction and slipped.
I managed to put my arms in front of me to break the fall. But blood splattered up as I fell and got into my eyes.
Fuck, I can’t see!
I wiped my eyes with a clean part of my polo and stood up. As my vision came back to me, I saw Gale running at the monster energy guy. He let out a warrior’s cry with each stomp.
Monster energy guy turned back, looking at the incoming behemoth. I wish I could’ve seen his face as Gale jumped on top of him and squashed him to the ground. Gale’s weight pinned down on the monster energy guy, causing the air to rush out of his lungs. He let out a wheeze before he passed out.
Zerra finally stepped out of the register, looking at the chaos that had just ensued with-shell shocked eyes. “W-What the fuck did y’all just do?” She put her hands to her head. “They were members of Jack Walter’s gang!”
“Who?” I said.
Sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer by the second. I looked at Gale and Neal. We all nodded in agreement.
“Did you,” Neal stammered, “Did you get it on tape?”
That’s right, my phone. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. The screen was shattered, green lines running down the middle. “No,” I sighed.
Gale stood up, hands on his hips like some sort of hero. “Fear not,” he said. “The security cameras did.”
As we cheered, my adrenaline faded away. The sharp pain in my side came back to me. I squealed like a pig. I’ve never felt that much pain before.
“Oh, man up!” said Zarra. “Quit being a bitch.”
***
When the police arrived, they swiftly took control of the situation. The two attackers were treated by the paramedics. They treated me as well. Surprisingly, the pants guy was the one who died. Monster energy guy is in the hospital as I write this.
Instead of us getting arrested, the officers commended us for our bravery. They assured us that justice would be served and that we should contact them if we needed any further assistance. We weren’t arrested because of something about “Helping them take down Jack Walter’s gang members.”
Ehh, who cares? I thought…
…That was until Gale messaged me that Jack Walter is the leader of a gang that deals in meth distribution. Supposedly, they cook the purest blue meth the world has ever seen. The night-crew will be fucked if they decide to retaliate.
Reddit, I will update y’all if anything comes up. I’m about to head into work. Oh, and before I go, please don’t try to search up my grocery store. As if I would be dumb enough to give the real name. I am, however, dumb enough to just change up a few letters.
Until next time! ;)